Even though I tend to spend more time in the kitchen this time of year, full meals of home-cooked food don’t have to take forever. On Friday night I was able to put meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans on the table in 30 minutes!
The recipes I used are linked in the menu plan below, but there are a couple things that helped it come together so quickly.
- Cut distractions: Turning off Netflix, setting down my phone and staying focused helped me get the meatloaves in the oven with about 5 minutes of prep time.
- Take Shortcuts: My instant mashed potato hack saves so much time!
- Think Small: a full meatloaf doesn’t cook in 20 minutes, but mini meatloaves do! I scooped them out using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, making sure they were uniform in size but also small enough to cook quickly.
- Work Smart: I started on the thing that took the most time to cook and worked from there. Once the meatloaves were in the oven, I put the green beans on and then went to the potatoes.
Here’s the rest of the menu from last week. We had two cold, rainy days that were perfect for soup!
On The Menu
Breakfast:
- Breakfast Burritos from the freezer
- Oatmeal
- Biscuits w/Apple Butter
Lunch:
- Leftovers
- Avocado Toast
Supper:
- Mini Meatloaves/Southern Green Beans/Mashed Potatoes (30 minute meal, see above)
- Crab Cakes for Frugal Crab Cake Lovers/Baked Potatoes/Caesar Salads
- Slow Cooker Turkey Chili
- Simply Delicious Chicken Noodle Soup (I use egg noodles instead of rice & added fresh spinach)
- Steaks on the Grill/Mac & Cheese/Caesar Salads (Paul cooked this meal!)
- Open Faced Turkey Cheddar Sandwiches/Fruit
- Date Night
Snacks: I took this apple dip to a work meeting last week – it was delicious! I made it the night before, and the flavors really combined in the fridge. This is such a simple recipe that is perfect for taking to a party! I put the dip into plastic containers (from Dollar General) so that I could quickly make everyone a plate before the meeting.
Happy Menu Monday!
Come Home For Comfort 
I’ve never tried mini meatloaves! Going to add them to next weeks meal plan!
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We love them – I hope you do, too! 🙂
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I love mini meat loaves!! They’re better to me than a big meat loaf because they’re more well done 🙂 I heard someone say the other day that dinner for her family of 5 always takes her 2-3 hrs from start to finish. Yikes! I’d much rather take short cuts, meal prep things ahead of time for the freezer and put dinner on the table in 30 minutes.
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That’s how my Gramma cooked – it took her forever, and she HATED it. It’s amazing how much time is saved when we meal prep and use a few short cuts, isn’t it?!
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I really want to try the mini-meatloaves….my hubby loves meatloaf but i seldom make it because an hour to bake is too long when I get home from work. I have a question, though – I see the recipe says that the mini loaves in the muffin cups bake for 45 minutes and yet you said yours baked for 20-25? How did you cut down the time? Thanks!
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Hi Kathi – I found that measuring the meatloaves with my 1/4 cup made them small enough to cut the baking time in half. I used a meat thermometer to make sure they were done. Hope you enjoy! 🙂
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Love the individual servings of the apples and dip. Great idea Whitney.
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It was a huge time saver at the meeting, that’s for sure!
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